Reciprocating floor conveyors often are used to convey bulk material, such as garbage, wood chips, gravel, ice, etc. Certain types of bulk material (e.g., garbage) can be abrasive to the conveyor slats of the reciprocating floor conveyor. Abrasive bulk material not only can cause damage to the top surfaces of the conveyor slats, but can also work its way down into the gaps between adjacent conveyor slats where it can cause damage to seals between the slats and to the bearings and subframework of the reciprocating floor conveyor.
Attempts have been made to alleviate this problem by providing extra protection for the upper surfaces of the conveyor slats, as well as extra protection for the gaps between the conveyor slats. My patent application Ser. No. 08/153,366, titled, "Replaceable Wear Surface for Conveyor Slats," filed Nov. 16, 1993 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,994, and my co-pending patent application Ser. No. 271,483, filed Jul. 7, 1994, and titled, "Snap-In Conveyor Slat Wear Plate," disclose possible solutions to the above-described problems. As disclosed by these patent applications, a wear plate is secured on top of each conveyor slat. Each wear plate includes an upwardly and outwardly-projecting cover flange, which extends laterally outwardly over a portion of an adjacent conveyor slat and over the gap between the adjacent conveyor slats. It has been discovered that some types of abrasive, gritty material can work its way up underneath the cover flange and ultimately into the gaps between the conveyor slats.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved protection for conveyor slats of reciprocating floor conveyors in order to reduce the foregoing discussed problems.